Sail boat safety device



1962 R. F. JOHNSON SAIL BOAT SAFETY DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.6, 1960 Haber?- FJah/man [m enfw Jan. 16, 1962 R. F. JOHNSON SAIL BOATSAFETY DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 6, 1960 4 u w .A 0,, I 0 m 0 OM 2 n n W m u m F 2 z p u W1 3 m m i4. i U H 4 J I I Haber) A fah/uanJ'nunvfor feud s,s1s,s59 SAEJL BGAT SAFETY DEVICE Eobert F. .lohnson,Las Vegas, Nev., assignor to Robert Marlr Johnson, Las Vegas, Nev. FiledDec. 5, 1960. Ser. No. 74,648 3 Claims. (Cl. 114-39) This applicationrelates to my application for Letters Patent for a SailBoat SafetyDevice, filed December 7, 1959, Ser. No. 857,756.

My invention relates to safety devices for sail boats. The principalobjective is to resist the capsizing of the sail boat. Other objectiveswill appear as the specification is proceeded with.

Sail boats require wind for their operation. However, too much wind cancause them to capsize. This is especially true of the catamaran type.

In 1912 Pat. No. 1,026,336 was issued to one William H. Williams whichshowed the use of flotation tanks mounted on the mast head, the ideabeing that the tanks would provide buoyancy when the mast head hit thegator and thus prevent the boat from turning upside own.

Today sail boats are sailed for pleasure and everything possible isusually done to take advantage of any wind. Speed appears to be of theessence and flotation tanks of any useful size mounted on the mast headwould greatly retard the movement of the boat, although they mightfulfill their objectives should the mast head hit the water.

In my device the objective of Williams flotation tanks is met withoutcreating any additional resistance to the movement of the boat orconcentrating as much weight at the mast head.

In the arrangement set forth in the above mentioned application, Ser.No. 857,756, now abandoned, and in my co-pending continuation in partapplication Ser. No. 18,007, filed March 28, 1960, a hollow core is usedto provide support for the inflatable bag used when the same is notinflated.

It is evident that this hollow core mounted on the mast head is ofconsiderable weight and it is also evident to all sail boat enthusiaststhat any weight at the mast head is disadvantageous especially when theboat heels over beyond say 30 degrees. Therefore, one of my presentobjectives is to cut down the weight concentrated at the mast head.

How this is accomplished is illustrated in the accompanying drawings ofwhich FIG. 1 is a plan view of the rigging support; FIG. 2 is a sideelevation of the rigging support; FIG. 3 is a "ertical section on theline 3-3 of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 shows the bag inflated; FIG. is a plan viewshowing the deflated bag tucked into the rigging support prior toinflating it; FIG. 6 is a vertical section on the line 66 of FIG. 5;FIG. 7 shows a boat heeled over with the mast head in the water; FIG. 8is a front elevation of a double-lever operated pressure vessel valve;FIG. 9 is a side elevation of FIG. 8; FIG. is an enlarged verticalsection through the valve proper; FIG. 11 shows connection of pressurevessel discharge line to rigging support.

Throughout the drawings and the specifications similar numerals refer tosimilar parts.

The use of a core in a sail boat safety device shown and described in myco-pending application Ser. No. 18,007 is particularly adapted for thelarger sail boats and catamarans which venture far from their home port.

Where a core is used to support the rubber bag when not inflated, thebag may be inflated and deflated a number of times without touching it.In the device about to be described the bag must be tucked into therigging support top portion which is a thin cylindrical shell about 3"deep inside and from 4 to 6" in diameter,

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after each deflation. However, this is not too much of a problem wherethe mast head may be reached from a service platform. These are usuallyfound close by sailing areas used by small sailing craft.

The inconvenience of tucking in the bag is more than compensated for bythe weight saved at the mast head. This is especially true with smallboats.

In FIG. 2 the mast head 1 is shown fitted with a ring or rigging support2 having rigging lugs 3 centilevered therefrom and provided withapertures 4 for the reception of rigging pins (not shown). A cylindricalportion 5 having a closed end 6 may be cast or forged integral with therigging support portion 2A or be tacked (welded) to the top of saidrigging support portion 2A. This cylindrical portion 5 is provided withan annular groove 7 into which the rubber bag 8 may be forced by theannular clamp 9 to provide a leak-proof joint.

The bag 8 is preferably made of neoprene since sunlight has adeleterious effect on natural rubber. However, natural rubber has abetter elongation and when treated with Hypalon its life is greatlyincreased. The bag 8 is cast and cured on a cylindrical mould (notshown) having a hemispherical end and an outside diameter correspondingto that of the cylindrical portion 5. A bag thickness of has provedsatisfactory. The size of the bag will be discussed shortly.

It is the practice of commercial companies to fill their containers orpressure vessels two-thirds full of liquid CO thus leaving the rest ofthe container to be occupied with gas which creates Within the tank apressure of 83817 p.s.i. at degrees This practice has been followed indetermining the size of the pressure vessel 10 and in its charging. 8.7cubic feet of gas will be provided by 1# of liquid CO at 70 degrees F.and atmospheric pressure. It follows that an inflated bag of one cubicfoot will displace one cubic foot of water, and each cubic foot of waterdisplaced will provide an upward reaction, so to speak, of 62.44%. Theinflated bag formed as indicated will approximate the shape shown inFIG. 4.

When inflated the pressure within the bag 8 will vary from 0.5 to 1.5#above atmospheric pressure depending upon the type and thickness ofrubber used.

At this point note is made that only sufficient CO is provided in thepressure vessel 19 used to produce the gas required to inflate the bagto a predetermined size, taking into consideration besides temperatureand pressure, the bag size, material and thickness. In proportioning thebag it is advisable to limit the elongation to five at the most.

Since CO and other expansive mediums are used for many purposes,standard containers or pressure vessels of various sizes have beendeveloped for them. One of these, as 10, is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Amodified Kidde CO dispensing valve 11 is attached to the pressure vessel10. A cross section of this valve 11 is shown in FIG. 10. In thisarrangement the top portion of the Kiddo valve body is turned down toform a shoulder 12 for'the lever-carrying member 13 counterbored toreceive it. This member 13 is slotted down to the counter-bore 14 forthe reception of the oppositely disposed levers 15 pivotally connectedto the member 13 by the fulcrum or hinge pins 16 positioned therein.

The top of the valve stem 17 is shown to be on a level with the top ofthe counterbore 14 and the bottom of the levers 15 whose ends are formedwith the cam surface 18 to better engage the top of the valve stem 17 asit is depressed. On the outer end of each lever 15 is a movable weight19 which may be shifted along the lever 15 as desired and held inposition by the set screws 21). The movement of the levers 15 aroundtheir hinge pins 16 is fixed in one direction by the cam surface 18coming into contact with the valve gland 21 and in the other directionby the contact of the lever 15 with the bottom 22 of the slot 23.

In the drawing solid lines show the levers 15 at right angles to thecenterline of the pressure vessel whose centerline 24 is normallyvertical and in alignment with the centerline of the boat or catamaranmast 1A. The levers will remain in this position until the boat heelsover to 90 degrees at" which time the center of gravity of the Weightedlevers 15 will shift and the levers 15 move to the dotted position X andthe valve stem 17 depressed whereupon CO from the pressure vessel 14will be released into the bag 8 to inflate it. This valve stem 17 may bedepressed many ways mechanically or through the agency of a solenoid.However, whether acted upon mechanically or through a solenoid the valve17 is depressed thus lowering the plug 25 (see FIG. 10) thereupon fromit's seat 26 to permit CO from the pressure vessel 10 to pass betweenthe plug 25 and; its seat 26 to the valve opening 27 The opening 27 isconnectedto a standa'rd Imperial 3-way valve 28 in which the flow isfrom any one side of the line to the branch. In other words, CO from thepressure vessel 10 may pass directly as the mast head cap or riggingsupport 2 (see FIGS. 9 and 11) through the copper tubing 29 connected tothe branch 30 of the 3-way valve 28, or an inflated bags may be deflatedthrough the branch 30 and the valve line opening 31. The pressure vessel10 may be charged through the branch opening 30 and the line opening 32.When charging the pressure vessel 10 the valve stem 17 is depressed sothat the plug 25 is removed from its seat 26 to permit CO to flowbetween the seat and the plug into the pressure vessel 10. When thevalve stern 17 is free from pressure applied downwardly the plug 25 isheld tight against its seat 26 by the pressure applied upwardly by thespring 33 beneath it.

Now if it is desired to have the above action take place when the boatheels over to 80 degrees instead of 90 degrees the weighted lever 15 ismoved as to the position Y and the bottom 22 of the slot 23' adjusted tosuit.

FIG. 11 shows the bottom portion 6 of the rigging cap 2 tapped for thereception of the fitting 34 for the tube 29 which connects with the3-way valve 28 on the pressure vessel 10 (FIG. 9). This pressure vessel10 may be placed in any convenient location (preferably close to themast 1A) either above or below the deck (not shown). In any event itwill follow the inclination of the boat B and before the mast head 1touches the water W as shown in FIG. 7 the valve 11 5 on the presusrevessel 10 will have been opened and CO admitted to the bag 8 to inflateit.

FIG. 6 shows the tucked-in bag 8 protected from the It is to beunderstood that this invention admits of many deviations withoutdeparting from the basic idea set forth therefor what is new over theprior art is set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a sail boat safety device in combination with a boat and a masthead thereof, a rigging support on the mast head having a cylindricalshell provided with a bottom closure carried on and above the riggingsupport, an inflatable bag enveloping the cylindrical shell and adaptedto be'tucked within said cylindrical shell when not inflated, a pressurevessel, means connecting the pressure vessel to the bag, an expansivemedium normally confined within the pressure vessel, means toautomatically release the expansive medium from the pressure vessel intothe bag to inflate it when the boat heels over to a predetermineddegree, and means to deflate the bag.

2. In a sail boat safety device having an inflatable bag mounted on amast head of said boat, means to automatically release an expansivemedium from a pressure vessel into said bag to inflate it when the boatheels over a predetermined degree to starboard or a predetermined degreeto port which includes a pressure vessel valve having a sterndepressible to open the valve, means to depress the stern including apair of oppositely disposed levers, a pair of spaced apart fulcrurns onefor each lever, each lever lying normally at right angles to thecenterline of the valve when the same is closed and each lever having aweighted end and an end opposite formed to engage the valve stem todepress it to open the valve when the weighted end of the lever swingsover to the opposite side of the valve centerline as the boat heels overto the predetermined degree in the same direction.

3. In a sail boat safety device in which an inflatable bag is mounted ona mast head of said sail boat means for mounting said bag which includesa cylindrical ring surrounding the mast head and having rigging lugscantilevered therefrom and a closed bottom cylindrical shell carried onand above said ring and attached thereto said bag being adapted toenvelope said cylindrical shell.

No references cited.

